Better Late Than Never...

Wow!  It's 2011.  What's even more amazing is that we're over halfway through January 2011.  I've been quite busy over here, which explains the lack of blogging on my end.  December was a mad rush of trunk shows and traveling, filling last minute orders, and scrambling to get my Spring line ready.  I managed to do it all, and I even launched the new SuzannaDai.com.  Many more exciting things are in the works too!

At the beginning of December, I flew out to LA to do a few trunk shows at the Nordstrom stores in Santa Monica, Topanga, and Fashion Island.  It was great to be in the stores and talk to customers face to face, although I'm not going to lie - it was also nice to get out of the mad rush that is NYC before the holidays.  LA was so warm and sunny, and I met up with an old high school friend, who took me to some cool spots.  I also filled up on Mexican food, which is soooo amazing out there.  It's funny - I grew up in Texas and couldn't have cared less about Mexican food until I moved to NYC and suddenly no longer had it at my fingertips.  Now I crave Mexican like nobody's business.  I pretty much ate my way through all the Mexican restaurants in LA.

I came back to NYC, did a few more trunk shows, and filled last minute orders before heading to my parents' house in North Carolina.  It was so nice to have a break - well, a small one, at least.  I spent a lot of time at home designing.  It's the only chance I get to step back and focus only on being creative.

I'll have my Spring 2011 line up on the site before too long - I'm really excited about it, and I'll give you a sneak peek here:

Malé Drop Earrings

Jaipur Collar Necklace

Palm Spring Cuff

I also launched a collection of beaded clutch bags, which I'm super excited about!!  More about those soon.

Here's to a great 2011!!

Fast Forward to Spring... 2011

I just barely finished designing my Fall/Holiday 2010 line, and already it's time to move on to Spring 2011.  It's important to have samples ready for September, when all the buyers place their orders. The fashion cycle moves so quickly... it can get overwhelming and sometimes a little out of hand.

While looking on the Bergdorf Goodman website today, I saw that they're already carrying pre-fall.  Ok, that's great and all, but it's barely June!!  Various other stores have summer merchandise on sale already.  It's crazy that summer has not even officially started, and everyone is so eager to get back to fall.  In New York, we've had one really summer-like week so far, but it cooled off again this week.  After such a long winter, and last year's sorry excuse for summer, believe me, the last thing THIS Texas girl wants to think about is fall and the onset of cold weather.  Can't we just enjoy summer??  God knows we deserve it...

I'm all for planning ahead and not procrastinating, but it seems crazy to me, as well as economically brain-dead, for stores to sell summer clothing at full price in March or April (when it's still usually snowing outside), and then have it on sale in prime summer weather (June/July).  I admit, I do get REALLY excited about spring and summer (probably more than anyone), but I just can't think about buying a sun dress when it's 30 degrees outside.  Same goes for fall clothing - who wants to think about wearing wool in the boiling temperatures of August?

But getting back to Spring 2011...  What I'm feeling is more delicate sizes and shapes, but fun with color.  I love the idea of mixing neons with neutrals - take for instance neon red with ecru and gunmetal, or chartreuse with antique gold and grey.  I'm also really into coral and salmon mixed with grey, pyrite, and black diamond.  I saw these beads at one of the stores I frequent, and it really inspired me:

I love the various shades of coral with the hit of grey - it looks so modern.

I'm also really excited about bright metallics - I bought these colored metallic wires recently, and I can't wait to use them:

Stay tuned for more - I hope to get some great inspiration when I get to India in a few weeks!